Herringbone Stitch (TAST)

This week’s stitch for Take a Stitch Tuesday was herringbone. Here are a few of my samples:

This was the simplest of the pages I stitched, as I tried to see what I could do with no more than the basic stitch. I started out with the basic herringbone, then add some horizontal and/or vertical stitches were the threads crossed. I did the same with the double herringbone however I played a bit with size and weight of thread. I must say, I love the banding one gets when you just keep layering the herringbone stitch. It’s very effective and I think I’ll be using that idea more often.

On the next sample I wanted to explore the various ways in which weaving could be used in conjunction with this stitch. The top most sample is plain herringbone, the second is whipped with metallic thread. Third is double herringbone version 2. The fourth and fifth samples are woven using the same ribbon but on one the herringbone in only 1/4-inch wide while the other is 1/2-inch. Number six, seven, and eight all explore wrapping the thread/ribbon around the stitches, although number seven has an extra layer using double herringbone. The last four samples on this cloth all use double herringbone version 1 which were then woven with a second (or third) colour. I love the last one with the ribbon woven through. :)

On the third sample I wanted to explore what could be done with beads (and only beads). This sample took the longest, but was also the most fun. To save on space I put several similar explorations on a single line, such as on the fifth, sixth and seventh sample lines of this page.

On my fourth sample, I wanted to explore the effect of combining various techniques (weaving, beading, and extra stitching). These were really quite fun to do as the various techniques gave such dimension to each other. I will admit, by the end of this sample I was growing quite tired and decided ‘lets see what a HUGE herringbone would look like’.

This sample remains incomplete as I wish to add to it in the future as time permits, but it is a basic exploration of couching and stitching down objects. I’m quite keen on the 3rd line of this sample which was actually a suggestion of my husband. Sometimes to find something interesting you merely need to turn the world on its head and ask a non-sewing geek.

There are quite a few other explorations I didn’t have a chance to try, but I am making notes in my book as a ‘to do’ list for the future. That includes Chevron stitch which I just pretended didn’t exist.

Thanks for the challenge, Sharon! I’m looking forward to next week’s stitch, although I doubt I’ll get as much done. If nothing else I’ve got a head full of ideas of what I’d like to put into my stitch book. And really, that’s the point.